Sasuke collapsed on the bench during the water break, grateful for even the few seconds to rest his weary muscles. Honestly, who'd have thought playing college ball was so HARD?

It had only been a week, and already the coach was running them like they were a football team. Heck, the basketball season didn't even start for three months!! Was he going to have to endure this physical torture every day AND do his coursework?

"Hey, man, when you pivot on the Star play, make sure you don't lift your heel off the ground," the guy next to him said, squirting water from his bottle into his mouth. "It looks suspicious to any hawk-eyed referee, I saw you do it at least twice."

"Last time I checked, the coach was over 50," Sasuke snarled. "Why are you messing with my game? If Coach doesn't like it, he'll tell me."

PHWEEET!

"Alright, men, on the end line! Give me 50 updowns!"

That's a FOOTBALL drill, Inner Sasuke sighed. Honestly, don't they know anything?

We're going to be dead by the end of practice, anyway, Sasuke replied, so what's the point? This is ten times WORSE than doing those suicides under Itachi…

I'd almost RATHER be doing those, his inner replied.

Without warning, the silver circular scar let out a round of pain. Sasuke was in the middle of an updown when it happened: he fell down and onto his face, twitching slightly with the pain. On the outside, he was merely making a face, but on the inside, Sasuke was screaming in agony. It felt like someone had torn open the hole in his shoulder…

A fist grabbed the back of his sweat-soaked shirt and hauled him up.

"Dude, you can't rest now, we've got another hour of practice," the guy from before spoke. He slapped Sasuke around the face. "Get up and stop whining."

Without warning, Sasuke suddenly punched the kid's face! The team crowded around as the boy stood up, glaring at Sasuke, wiping a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. The two might have begun fighting there and then had the coach not put a stop to it.

"Suigetsu! Sasuke! Knock it off before I knock your blocks off!"

"Yes, sir," Sasuke muttered.

"Understood," Suigetsu grimaced.

"You'll be doing extra laps as payment for the minute you wasted," Coach growled. "Suicides with a ball, now!"

So, this dude's name is Suigetsu, Inner Sasuke noted.

And we sure as heck don't like him, Sasuke agreed.

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From: SharinganAvenger

To: PinkPointGuard

Re: School

I miss you, Sakura. That's what keeps running through my head right now. Every day I wake up and the first thing is, I miss Sakura.

How's Sannin Med going so far? I hear you guys are next door to a law school. Guess I'm in competition with all the cute lawyers-in-training, huh?

Basketball's been really hard already…and the season hasn't even started yet! But considering the prowess of the Kishimoto Shuriken and the teams in their league, this should be a fantastic year for me. Heck, maybe the scouts from the Fire Ninja'll even come around!

I met this guy called Suigetsu, he's a real pain in the butt. He's on the team, too, but I can't for the life of me figure out what position he plays. Guess I'll find out next week.

I'm really glad it's the weekend, hope you don't have too much work to do. Heh, I'm glad I have you to write to: this is probably the most talkative I've been all week. My roommate is (guess who?) Naruto, so I do a lot of listening and not a lot of talking.

It's quiet here without my cherry blossom. Maybe I'll go down to the courts a little later, and think of you while I shoot.

Love, Sasuke

Sasuke leaned back and examined his email. Short, sweet, and to the point. With a sigh, he clicked 'Send' and signed out of his email account. As soon as the server finished logging him out, it returned to the home page. Sasuke would have closed the window, but a headline caught his eye.

Breakout From ANBU Detention Center

ANBU Detention…that vaguely rung a bell. Sasuke clicked the headline and scanned the article. His eyes narrowed as he read.

ANBU Detention Center representatives stated this morning that several inmates have escaped from several high-level security cells. A spokesperson said that the breakout is thought to have happened a week ago during heavy wind and rains. For security reasons, the information was not released to the public. But now, the spokesperson says, it is a public danger for citizens in the area.

"The fact that we could not trace these escapees nor apprehend them after several days indicates that they have put some considerable distance between themselves and our facility," Anko Mitarashi said. "We strongly urge all citizens of the Konoha City area to be on the alert for these criminals. We have set up a hotline, and if one of these men is seen, we urge people to call the hotline right away. These men are dangerous and must not be approached at any cost."

Below the short article was a link that led to mug shots of the escaped criminals. Sasuke clicked it. A moment later, he pushed back his chair and stood up, mouthing wordlessly.

The first picture was a shot of his elder brother, Itachi Uchiha.

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Uh-oh, Itachi's out and about. What will Sasuke do? What's Itachi's goal? I have a short poll I need ALL my readers to take. If you DO NOT take it, then this story will grind to a halt where it is. Your answers affect the outcome of this story. The question is this:

death

disappearance

WHICH ONE???? I won't tell you anything else, it's your preference. There are two choices, choose one: DEATH or DISAPPEARANCE. You can choose based on your preference, your emotions, your lucky number, your favorite month(don't ask me how THAT works), what the rabid squirrel ninjas of doom are telling you to do…

NOTE: 'DEATH' does NOT necessarily mean that someone in this fic will die. Just wanted to let you know that. :)

I don't care. Just pick one. I will add up the votes and choose one to continue the fic. REMEMBER: IF YOU DO NOT CAST A VOTE, I CAN NOT CONTINUE WITH THIS FIC!!! Thank you!